The Rosetta mission takes a crucial step on Wednesday November 12th when the Philae lander attempts to come to rest on the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and you can be in on the act.

NASA is providing live coverage of the landing at the primary site, now named Agilkia. The name was chosen by the public and refers to an island on the river Nile where ancient buildings were relocated after the island Philae flooded. The scheduled time is 7:35 am Pacific Standard Time, or 10:35 am Eastern Standard Time.

Once it has landed Philae will become very busy very quickly as it can only stay active on the surface for about two and a half days. In that time it will take the first images from the surface of a comet and will drill down to take samples for analysis with its suite of instruments. It will also monitor changes on the comet due to exposure to the sun.

The Rosetta spacecraft will be active for much longer, remaining in orbit around the comet through 2015 as it continues to carry out its observations. The mission is scheduled to end on December 31, 2015.